Readings From Sirach

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The week after Pentecost Sunday continues ordinary time (that is, in the liturgical parlance, the weeks in ordinal numbers). And while the Gospels continue with selections from the Marcan gospel that follow the Transfiguration, the OT readings (for Year 1) are taken from the Wisdom books, specifically the Book of Sirach, also known as Ecclesiasticus.

After a season where the liturgy offered texts for contemplation and recollection, in ordinary time we go back to what we need for daily living: admonitions, exhortations, instructions for right living. The rich Wisdom literature of the Old Testament provides us with a source for reflection and study. Below is a table showing how selections from the Book of Sirach has been distributed from Monday to Saturday during the 7th Week of Ordinary Time:

Monday, Sir. 1:1-10

We need wisdom to live from day to day. But for the man of faith, the wisdom required is that which comes from the Lord. For Ben-Sirach and his first readers, the Lord is Yahweh, the Creator, the one who has formed Israel from youth and who even at a time when Israel languishes in the Dispersion remains to be Guide, Teacher and Protector of the just man. For the Christian, “Lord” is the one who has received the Name above every Name (cf. Phil 2:6-11), Christ Himself, He who said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Tuesday, Sir. 2:1-11

The life of faith is worship of God — in the Pauline sense of it. Through the daily life of the Christian, God is glorified and sanctified. “Let your light shine out before men so that they would glorify your Father in Heaven,” the Lord once said. But the life of faith too brings one into hostile combat with those who would have nothing of it. Hence the suffering due to persecutions and the world’s hatred (as John would write). Christian wisdom behooves that patient endurance and fidelity to God become the hallmarks of the persecuted man of faith. In is in these attitudes that the believer’s trust in the merciful God is expressed.

Wednesday, Sir. 4:11-19

Wisdom is like a woman; one has to pursue her, woo her, and win her heart. Thus, the lady “Sophia” brings her lovers to the test. Those who pass the test win her and her treasures. Christian Wisdom is in a way like that. Whoever chooses to live by it suffer the tension that arises between flesh and spirit in an acute way. Wasn’t it Paul who taught that the Wisdom of God appears like folly to men? So those who submit to it are misunderstood as Wisdom itself is misunderstood.

Thursday, Sir. 5:1-8

To live wisely is to live under the fear of God. There is no room for presumption here, nor to a certain kind of agnosticism that laughs at the idea that God pays attention to the deeds of men. Nor can one, forgetting the dignity to which one is called by God, submit oneself to the rule of men because of a presumed necessity. No “necessity” should make the man of faith turn away from God who is his Highest Good.

Friday, Sir. 6:5-7

To live wisely is to conduct one’s social life, one’s “conversatio” (as the Latins would say) under the standards set up by Wisdom. Friends and Enemies one will always have, and prudence, understanding and discernment should be used for both.

Saturday, Sir. 17:1-5

To live wisely is to keep before one’s eyes the status that one has before God: his “image and likeness”. This phrase simply means “his child.” St. Paul would write that the wisdom of the cross has changed the status of men from that of slavery to the freedom of the sons of God. It is Christian wisdom that allows him to remain such even in a world that despises such wisdom.